Patriots roll in rivalry baseball game

Chase Montigney drove in three runs and T.J. Johnson tossed a five-inning, one-hitter Monday as Pittston Area rolled over Wyoming Area in a non-league baseball game at Atlas Field.

The annual rivalry game was postponed a day because of wet conditions.

Pittston Area was playing for the first time since dropping its final two games of the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 season to have its title hopes fall short. Wyoming Area played the game three days before its playoff to break the first-place tie at the top of WVC Division 2.

The Patriots took control early with six runs in the top of the first and four more in the second, but the Warriors stuck with just two pitchers in the game, which was decided early by the 10-run rule.

Jake Aftewicz doubled to drive in the first run, then Richard Tonte and Eli Mead each added two-run singles before the inning was over.

Beau Widdick had an RBI double to highlight the second inning.

Montigney forced in a run when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning, drove in another run with a groundball in the second inning and the third with a single in the fifth.

Aftewicz, Tonte, Elijah Barr and Montigney all had two hits each.

Tonte and Mead drove in two runs each.

Widdick scored three times while Barr and Tonte scored twice each.

Silvio Giardina, who leads the team with a .444 batting average, delivered his team-high 10th double.

Johnson struck out three and walked four.

Dominic Donati had the hit for the Warriors, bunting for a hit with two outs in the bottom of the second.

The game ended the regular season for both teams.

Pittston Area, headed for a quarterfinal home game in the District 2-4 Class 5A Subregional playoffs, improved to 16-4. Wyoming Area, likely to begin the District 2 Class 4A playoffs on the road, finished 11-9.